1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to spectroscopy, and more particularly to a system and method for non-contact assessment of changes in critical material properties using a novel lower frequency dielectric absorption spectroscopy system and method.
2. Description of Related Art
Various liquids, solutions, and materials, such as pharmaceuticals, may undergo unintended changes during various steps such as the fill-finish process, transportation, compounding process, or storage. These changes may include changes in pH, salinity, or particulates and may, in the case of pharmaceuticals, be injurious to a patient's health. Compounding errors in solutions or pharmaceuticals prior to being administered may cause injury to the patient or even death. For example, errors in saline concentration in chemotherapy can represent a significant patient hazard. In addition, other substances such as expensive perfumes, gels and solid powders may be counterfeited, watered down, or otherwise made non-viable in an attempt to deceive the recipient of the counterfeit material. Such counterfeiting activities cause more than monetary harm, and may compromise the health and well-being of the recipient. The ability to determine the stability and authenticity of a material such as a pharmaceutical product without contacting or otherwise disturbing the material is a heretofore unmet need.
It would therefore be desirable to have the ability to detect unintended changes in the contents of a container such as a vial during various times such as the fill-finish process, transportation, the compounding process, or storage prior to infusion so that preventive or remedial actions could be taken. Detecting these unintended changes would benefit from being non-contact and non-invasive. Detecting variations in the contents of a container outside of pre-determined acceptable parameters would have vast implications in many industries, including, for example, the pharmaceutical industry.
While dielectric spectroscopy is used to determine the characteristics of various materials, it inherently uses extremely high frequencies approaching microwave frequencies, and therefore requires contact with the material since at these frequencies the glass or plastic container impedes these microwave signals and also can cause radiation of these signals into the environment.
What is needed, therefore, is a technique that determines the stability, authenticity and overall integrity of a material such as a liquid without the need to disrupt, remove, or otherwise disturb the packaging, container, or vial that contains the material.
The present invention employs a novel method of non-contact assessment of materials contained in a package, container, vial, vessel, or the like. While the various embodiments of the present invention are described as evaluating or analyzing materials such as pharmaceuticals that are contained in a vial or the like, other applications such as the analysis of a liquid such as blood, within a vessel of the body of a human or animal, are also considered within the scope and content of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a non-invasive and non-contact system and method for assessment of changes in critical material properties.